Adjusted net income rose 7.6 percent to 379.4 million reais
($194 million) from the same quarter a year earlier, the
Brazilian exchange said today in a regulatory filing. The
average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for a
profit of 396.2 million reais.

“Uncertainties regarding Brazil’s growth and concern over
the federal government intervention on the economy made the
market volatile by the end of the year,” Pedro Galdi, chief
strategist at Sao Paulo-based brokerage SLW Corretora, said in a
phone interview before the earnings were released.

President Dilma Rousseff last year lowered taxes on
consumer goods, pressured banks to reduce borrowing costs,
ordered power utilities and phone companies to cut prices and
capped car imports from Mexico to boost domestic demand and spur
growth in Latin America’s biggest economy.

Sao Paulo-based BM&FBovespa’s shares jumped 14 percent in
the fourth quarter on bets that Brazil’s record low interest
rates would help to drive more investors into riskier assets.
The Bovespa stock index rose 3 percent during the period.

The shares fell 1.6 percent to 13.53 reais today in Sao
Paulo, leaving them down 3.4 percent this year.

Brazilian central bankers led by Alexandre Tombini cut the
country’s benchmark interest rate by 3.75 percentage points
during 2012 to 7.25 percent, the lowest on record.